Roofing element



May 26, 1931 T. Rc BINSON w 1,807,435 l ROOFING ELlEMENT Filed June 141929 lNV TOR Patented May v216, i931 UNITED STATES PATENT ori-lcs THOMASROBQINSON, OF NEW YORK, Y., ASSIGNOR T LANCASTER ASPHALT, ING., 0F

NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE no oFING ELErENT Applicationmea Jne 14,y

This invention relates to roofing elements and is concerned moreparticularly with a roofing element which consists of a body of hardenedplastic material, and a facing sheet I applied to one face of the bodyto strengthen and re-inforce the body and. rotect its edges. This newproduct has the a vantage of having Aa longer life and offering greaterresist- P ance to fire than wooden shingles andk it may be made indifferent shapes and thicknesses.

and ordinarily of uniform thickness from end to' end.

For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be had to theaccompanyingdrawings, in which Fig. 1 is an end view of the apparatuswhich may be` used in making the new product; e

-Fig 2 is a Sectional view of one form of the product; A l' y Figs. 3,4, and 5 are sectional views vof different types of the product;

Fig. 6 is a plan view of one product.; and

Fig. 7 is a perspective view7 of one form of the facing sheet. g

v While the new product may be made in various shapes and sizes, forconvenience it is illustrated in the form of. an individual shingle.This shingle comprises a body 10 of hardened plastic material, made upof an aggregate and a binder. The aggregate may consist of ground cork,cinders, sand, crushed form of the that type, preferably mixedwithrunfelted fibre, such as asbestos or the like.' For some purposes,

the fibrous materialmay be used alone and without mixture with thefinelydivided solid materials. This aggregate is bound together by a suitablebinding medll um, preferably 'of the bituminous type, asphalt of a'suitable melting point being satisfactory for the purpose. The plasticmass is made b mixing t e solid and fibrous material wit vthe heated.asphalt, a relatively 1929. seriai no. 370,974.

large proportion'of the vaggregate being employed so that the mass isVrelatively stiff.

On one face lof .the ,body-is a protective Y facingV in the form of afibrous sheet 11. The

sheetymateria-l is' preferably wool or asbestos felt impregnated with awaterprooingcom# pound, such as asphalt, although coarse aper and thelike may also be used. All 'of the shingles illustrate-d are oftaperingthickness, although it is to be understood that the new produc-tmay also be made with -a uniform thickness from end to end.

The tapered shingle is preferred since by that construction the shin lemay have a butt end which is relativel tinck arid at the same time maybe readily aid with others in the usual overlappingcourses. Thebody ofthe new shingle is of'plateflike form withits greatest areasubstantially in a plane which may lie midway between the two faces. Inthat form, the faces of the plate incline to-A ward each other, asindicated at 12, to meet in ,the' plane 13. which passes centrallythrough the body.

The facing sheet 11 covers onev of the faces i of the body and itsmargins may be shaped so as to lie out of the major plane of the sheet.and thus oo ver 'such portions of theV edges of the bod-y, indicated at14, as lie at one side of thecentral plane thereof. Preferably in thisform'of/the shingle, the` sheet has portions along at least a pair ofoppo site edges which extend out of the plane of the sheet, and'in'theconstruction shown4 in Figs. 2, 3, 5, and 7, all .four edges of thesheet are bent out of the plane so that the sheet is dish-shaped(Fig. 7)and the body lies in its concavity. With this construction, slate, andother finely divided materlals of the edges 14 lof the sheet re-inforoethe shingle at the edges thereof since the sheet edges lie 'at an angleto' the plane of the element', thus protectin the body against in.-1jury and preventing istortion thereof.

is saturated and coatedfwith asphalt and'provided with the'usual gritsurfacmgindicate'd In the finished product,the lfacing sheet at 15. Thegrit may be crushed slateorpther A l materials comment Y ud assurfacings 1n the roong art. The ace ofthe bdv'not protected bythesheet'is alsoeoyedywth surf facing material, indicated at 16, theparticles of this. surfacing being partially embedded in the body so asto be bound thereto.

In the construction illustrated in Fig. 4, the sheet 11 lies flat andthe end and side edges of the body are inclined toward the sheet so asto give the body the proper tapering thickness and appearance at theedges 17. In this form, the sheet is provided with surfacing 15 and thebody is similarly provided with surfacing 16. In the construction shownin Fig. 5, the edges of the body meet in a central plane 13 to mergetogether at that plane with a smooth curve indicated at 18. The centralplane is thus somewhat less clearly defined by the edges than is thecaseA with the construction shown in Fig. 3, for example. Also, in theconstruction shown in Fig. 5, the sheet 11 is coated and surfaced withgrit on both faces. This double sur- 'facing of the sheet is useful insome instances in that it simplifies the handlin of the sheet in themanufacture of the pr uct and also produces a slightly better bondbetween 'the sheet and the body,`the projecting portions of theparticles on the inner face of the sheet extending into the body andserving to interlock the sheet and body. A sheet with surfacing onbothfaces may be employed in any form of shingle made in accordance withthis invention.

In the manufacture of the new product, the apparatus conventionallyillustrated in Fig. 1 may be employed. The sheet 11 is drawn from asupply and impregnated, coat-V ed, and given a grit surfacing by theusual processes. The sheet is then ledbetween a pair of molding drums19, 19. These drums have cavities 2O in their surfaces, pairs ofcavities registering as the drums rotate to deline a space correspondingto the shape and size of the shingle to be produced. In the Space abovethe drums is maintained a supply 21 of the plastic material which is toform the body and as the drums rotate the.

registering cavities -Inold the plastic material to the proper form ofindividual elements and at the same time the sheet material is drawnbetween the drums and pressed into one mold cavity so as to conformtothe surface of the plastic mass being molded. The drums are formedwith cuttlng or scoring edges 22 between adjacent cavities so thatduring their operation a succession of individual elements is ,deliveredtherefrom, the units either being wholly severed or else separated bylines ofA scoring so that they can be readily broken apart. Followingthe formation of the elements in the manner described, a layer ofsurfacing is a plied to the exposed facing of the body. his may be doneby blowing the surfacing material against the plastic surface by an airblast, or. a sheet of paper on which the grit has been afiixed by asoluble adhesive, such as sodium silicate, may be led around the drum 19in a manner similar to that employed in connection with the facing.sheet 11. The paper has grit on that surface which comes in contactwith the plastic mass and in the formation of the products by theoperation of the drums the grit on the paper is embedded on the face ofthe body of each element. After the elements are completed, they aredipped in water, 'causing the adhesive material to dissolve, after whichthe paper may be removed, while the grit remains partially embedded inthe surface of the elements.

A third process which may be used for applying grit to the face of thebody involves coating the faces of the mold cavities of the drum 19 witha soluble adhesive, such as sodium silicate, and blowing grit againstthe coated surface. The grit becomes embedded inthe plastic bodymaterial during the for* mation of the shingles so as to cover allsurfaces of the bodynot protectedvby the facing sheet. v Y

The shingles are laid on the roof in overlapping eourses in the ordinarymanner with the facing sheet forming the bottom of each shingle. Thesheet strengthens the shin le,

protecting it against injury during handllng and laying, and when `thesheet is formed so that its edges are upturned additional strength isimparted to the shingle by reason of the inclination of these edges ofthe sheet to the plane of the shingle. The asphalt used in the body isof a high melt point so that there is no tendency for the body to becomesoftened and distorted upon exposure to the sun.

The new product is much superior to ordinary prepared roofings now incommon use,

since it may be made with a relatively thick butt end. The product ishighly resistant to fire and but little felt is used inits manufacture,the facing sheet being much thinner than felts ordinarily used forroofing .purposes. -In felt roofings as now made, the main body of eachshingle consists of impregnated and coated felt and the thickness of thefelt substantially determines the thickness of the finished product, sothat heavy felts are required for the production of shingles of the-best quality. The felt constitutes one of the greatest items of expensein the manufacture of prepared roongs and is also probably the chiefpoint of weakness, since the decays and disintegrates, which action isaccompanied by warping of the shingles, particularly at the exposedends. Also, such shingles areso thin that their exposed ends are readilylifted by the wind. In the present product the major portion of theshingle consists of hardened plastic material which is not Subj ect todistortion. While felt is employed, it is of relatively light weight andis used as a reinforcement instead of constitutlll@ ing the inain bodyoit the meterial. The new shnigie may be made with any desired buttthickness and it substantially stiffer than ordinary telt rooiigs., Theentire shingle is grit surfaced end by using grits of different eoiors,e tinal product of any desired eppeerance may be produced.

'What d claim is:

L it roobng element `which comprises a m body of hardened plasticmaterial softening under the action oi' heat and a sheetof fibrousmaterial covering one tace only of the body,

the sheet having its edges turned toward the body to provide a ooncayityin which the body W lies, lsaid body having an exposed portion tprojecting beyond the eoncavity of the sheet.

2. A roong eiement `which comprises a body ot hardened plastic materialsoftening under the ection or heat end a sheet of tibrons -ineteriai ononev tace only ot the body and covering part ot the edges thereof, the'sheet being generaiiy conceve and said body having en exposed portioniying beyond the edges oit said sheet.

3. A rooting eiementvwhich comprises a body hardened piastic materialsoftening tinderthe action et heat ot taper-ing thickness iroin end toend and a sheet of ibrous materia-ion one tace oniy 'oit the body7 least.a pair opposite edges of tbe sheet extending ot the piane of the mainpart et the sheet partiaiiy oyeriying the edges oit Vthe il* dy end saidbodyhaying an exposed porrm n projecting beyond the edges of said sheet.rooting eiement which comprises a ierdened inateriei softening Le notionheat tapering thickness w end sheet of iibrons nian one tace o oi thebody9 the i the sheet substantieliy in e the sheet extending y ne toprovide e concayity in body 'liesa said body herring an dertien beyondsaid con which comprises n haring its edges she 3 dish-shaped, and srneteriai softening c t. eaction o; liev sting on the cone tace or thesheet7 seid sheet covering one y of said the iatter haring projectingbeyond the edges or seid d i rooting element which comprises e body' ohardened. loiestic material softening i the ection of heat having atapering ess from one end to the other with the defining margins oi' thebody iying entielly in central piane, and a sheet ons materiali over oneface oniy the d coveringJ such portions or" the'edges as lie-at one sideof? said central piene, ey boring en enposed tace tying et r side otseid central plane.

Leontien 3 7, A tapered rooting element which comprises a body ofhardened plastic material softening under the action of heat, a layer ofsurfacing material on one tace of the body, the particles of saidsurfacing material being partially embedded in the body, and a sheet offibrous materiel covering the other tace only of said body and havingits edges' entending toward the body and covering portions of the edgesof said body, said portions extending through the 'full length ot saidedges but only a portion oit the Width thereof.

8. A. rooin made up of brous material and a binder softening under theaction of heat, and a sheet of impregnated fibrous materiai covering onetace only ot the body, the edges of seid sheet extending along the edgesot the body and covering a portion thereof` of less Width than thethickness of thefbody.

iin testimony Whereoii amr my signatnre` THGMAS ltBlNSN.

element comprising e body' dit,

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